Improvement in machines for breaking and cleaning flax and hemp



' 2 ShetsSheet 1. GODDEN.

, "Hemp and Flax Brake. No. 2,922. Patented Jan. 20, 1843.

2 Sheets-Sheet '2.-

GODDEN.

Hemp and Flax Brake.

Patented Jan. 20, 1843.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JOHN GODDEN, OF PITTSBUR G, ION/VA TERRITORY.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING AND CLEANING FLAX AND HEMP.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2,922, dated January20, 1843.

To aZZ wit-0112, it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN GonnEN, ofPitts burg, in the county of Van Buren and Territory of Iowa, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in the Manner of ConstructingMachines for Breaking and Cleaning of Hemp and Flax; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

In a frame suitable for supporting the various parts of the machinery Iplace a stationary frame of slats, made in a manner similar to such asare used in other machines for the same purpose, and above this I placea similar frame, which is made to vibrate up and down by the revolutionof a crank-shaft placed above it. For a machine of the ordinary sizethese frames of slats may be about two feet two inches in width, andabout three or four feet in length. WVhen intended forbreaking hemp,

' the slats where the hemp first enters may be about three inches apart,and at the opposite end'about half that distance. \Vhen made for flax,the slats should be placed nearer together.

The crank is to be connected to the vibrating frame by a connecting-rodin the usual manner, and should make about two hundred revo lutions in aminute. The crank may have a throw of three or four inches. The slats ofthe upper pass into the spaces between those of the lower frame, as inother hemp and'flax brakes.

My principal improvement consists in the 7.

. ally make of thin strips of iron, which pass into the spaces betweenthe stationary slats as the upper vibrating slats are raised therefrom.The planesof these strips stand in the direction in which the frame thatcarries them moves, and they are attached at each end to short standardsor rods attached to the frame. The lower vibrating frame may be attachedto sweeps of such length as to cause it to move in the proper direction;or it may be guided between slides, or be governed in any other way thatwill produce the desired effect, the object in View being to cause theselower slats to drive the hemp or flax forward horizontally over thestationary slats and toward the cleaning-rollers. My feeding andcleaning are effected by means of rollers properly constructed for thatpurpose. A pair of feeding-roll; ers about five inches in diameter areplaced at the front of the brake, and these may receive the materialsfrom a feeding-apron in the usual manner. The fibers, as they aredelivered from the brake, are received between a pair of fluted rollers,which may be five inches in diameter. As it leaves these it is receivedbetween a second pair of fluted rollers, which are about seven or eightinches in diameter.

This pair of rollers has thin flutes or blades,

which project about two inches from the core or body and stand about twoand a half inches apart. These larger rollers are geared together bytoothed wheels on their journals, which cause the projecting flutes orleaves on one roller to preserve their positions in the middle of thespaces of the corresponding roller. The smaller rollers may revolveabout seventy-five times, and the larger about double the number oftimes, in a minute. The delivering of the fibers after being cleaned iseffected by a pair of smooth rollers, which may be five inches indiameter and'similar to the feedingrollers. These delivering-rollersconduct the cleaned fibers onto an endless apron. The journals of eachof the pair of five-inch rollers may run in open-slot mortises withoutbeing geared together, the uppermost of each pair bearing upon thelowermost by its own weight. Each pair is to work together horizontally,the peripheries of the lower rollers being in a line, or nearly so, withthe upper side of the stationary slat frame. They may all be driven bymeans of bands and pulleys, the motion of which may be derived from thecrank-shaft, and they are all to move in the direction necessary tocarry the hemp or the flax from the feeding to the delivery rollers.There may be more than two pairs of cleaning rollers should it be founddesirable to increase their number.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is 2 v was a top view of themachine, and Fig. 2 a section thereof along the middle in a verticalplane from front to back,

In Fig. 1, A A is the crank-shaft, to which the driving-power may beapplied. B is the upper vibrating frame of slats, which is moved up anddown by the crank O, that is connected with the shaft D, attached to thevibrating frame. a a a are the edges of the stationary slats, and b b bthe slats of the vibrating frame. E is the upper feeding-roller; F, theuppermost of the fluted rollers which receive the fibers from the brake.G is the upper cleaning-roller, which is geared to the lower roller bythe toothed wheel H, there being a like wheel on each of these rollers.I is the upper delivering-roller. The endless aprons are not shown, thisnot being necessary, as they are well known. Thelower feeding-roller isdriven by the band 0, passing around the whirls d and e, and the lowercleaning-roller by a band, f, passing around the whirls g and h. On oneof the journals of the lower cleaning-roller is a bevel-wheel, J, whichmeshes into a similar bevel-wheel on the line-shaft K. This shaftcarries two other bevel-wheels, L and M, by which the first lower flutedroller and the lower delivery-roller are driven. Other modes of gearingmay be adopted; but this has been found to be direct and convenient.

I11 Fig. 2, where the same parts are seen as in Fig. 1, they aredesignated by the same leting-rods, as shown at 7c it, with the shaft ofthe upper vibrating frame, so that the two vibrating frames rise andfall together.

Having thus fully described the manner inv which I construct my machinefor the breaking and cleaning of hemp and flax, what I claim therein asnew, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combining with the stationary and the upper vibrating frames ofslats a second vi- 7 brating frame below the stationary frame, soconnected and arranged as that it shall move obliquely upward in suchmanner as that the slats which it carries shall enter between those ofthe stationary frame, for the purpose herein fully set forth and madeknown.

JOHN GODDEIT.

\Vitnesses:

GYRUs GIBSON, JOHN D. DEVIN.

To govern the motion of the frame

